'Do you know what a feminist is?': Meet dads who are talking to their sons about harassment

dads-discussions-with-their-sons-about what-men-can-do-better

Image | Next generation of men

Caption: Graydon James plays Lego with his son, Simon. (Laura Spink)

The first male role models that many boys have is their father.
And after seeing the #MeToo(external link) hashtag, many dads took to Facebook to share how they planned to raise their kids — especially sons — to be part of the solution to harassment and violence against women.
Now or Never reached out to a few of these men and asked them to record their conversations. You can hear those conversations by clicking 'listen' above.

Image | John and Jamie Chew

Caption: John Chew and his son Jamie. (John Chew)

John Chew posted that he wanted to "raise two sons to know better," and he recorded a conversation with his 13-year-old son, Jamie. He began by asking whether Jamie had ever heard other young men make comments about women.
John: Oh, yeah, definitely bragged about it. I don't want to get into details, but he bragged about stuff that he did with girls.
Jamie: So what would you do when your friend was a little bit inappropriate, or in his case very inappropriate, with the things he was saying about girls?
John: I think he wanted attention, or he wanted some sort of reaction from me. So I would try to not have that big of a reaction. But I'd say something like: "That's not cool, don't talk about that, I don't need to know that," and that would actually work fairly well, and he would stop talking about it.

Image | Graydon James and Simon Morey

Caption: Graydon James with his son, Simon Morey. (Laura Spink)

Graydon James said he wanted to "raise my son to be a proud feminist, and actively deconstruct the cultural garbage that comes at him constantly."
"Critique my beliefs and behaviours," he continued, "in order to actively support the female-identifying people in my life."
James' son Simon Morey is only 6, but that doesn't mean he can't see inequality.
Graydon: Do you know what a feminist is?
Simon: No.
Graydon: At the base of it, feminism is about making sure that everyone is equal regardless of their gender or any other considerations, really.
Simon: Yeah, get out of here gender people!
Graydon: What do you mean "get out of here gender people"? Do you mean get out of here people who have gender?
Simon: No, get out of here people who don't think it should be equal.
Graydon: Why do you think that's bad?
Simon: Because it's not treating people fairly. It's not being fair.
Graydon: Do you think that things are fair, in general, on the earth?
Simon: No, they're not fair yet. Some day they might get there.

Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity. To hear the full conversations, click the 'listen' button above.